What Would Caltrans' Big-Bucks, Big-Box Building Buy, Baby?

By Howard Blume

Apr 17, 2005 | 12:00 AM

California taxpayers shelled out $190 million for the new Caltrans headquarters, designed by a Pritzker Prize-winning architect, in downtown Los Angeles.

The building cost $1.8 billion less than the total amount diverted from transportation projects by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Still, it's fun to imagine what its price might have bought instead of a Death Star-sized bureaucracy box.